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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Sambar Rice

Friday...a lazy day in Middle East..As usual we went to the park early in the morning...the kids played as much as they want..then the men headed off to the swimming pool..while the women wandered around the park..my daughter babbling about every bird and squirrel that passed by...And by noon, we are back home, all energized.

Friday is one day that I feel so lazy about ccoking...mainly because its the day hubby is at home and rather than spending time in kitchen its much better if we can chat and watch TV. But somehow I was all in the mood to cook, and there comes the suggestion.. "I feel like having some Sambar rice with curd". I was more than happy...no need to cook too many dishes, just make Sambar & rice and mix up all together..

I am unsure as to whether this is the authentic way of making sambar rice. We love it this way and it tastes heavenly with curd...can be had either for lunch or dinner, also makes a super lunch box item.

Tamarind - size of a lemon (soaked in some water for 10 min and extract the juice)

Salt - as per taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Small onions - 3-4

Tomato - 2 (cleaned and diced)

For tempering

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp

Dried chilly - 2

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Sambar powder - 1 tsp

White rice - 2 cups (I used Jeerakasala rice)

[Clean rice under running water and cook the rice till its half cooked. Keep it aside]

Method

Wash and clean toor daal under running water. Pressure the cleaned dal with 3 cups of water, a pinch of turmeric powder and salt. Cook till its done (I normally cook for 1 whistle on high flame, and 4 whistles on low flame). Let the pressure gets released. After that, open the lid and smash the dal.

Meanwhile clean and cut all the veggies. Heat a kadai, add 1 tbsp of oil. Once hot, add the small onion and the veggies. Let is saute for a while. Sprinkle some salt. Now add 2 tbsp sambar powder and saute till a nice aroma comes. Add the tamarind extract and the diced tomatoes. Saute till tomatoes starts to lose its shape. Now add the sauteed veggies to the cooked dal, add some more water if required. Add the half cooked rice also to this and cook till the veggies and rice and cooked well.

Tempering

Once sambar and rice is cooked well, take another pan and heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil. Once hot, crackle mustard seeds. Add dried chilly, curry leaves and saute for a while. Now sprinkle the sambar powder & asafoetida powder and immediately switch off the stove. Stir in this to the sambar - rice mixture. Keep it closed for sometime for the flavours to set in.